Frontline manager communication has been ranked as a top challenge for internal comms professionals for many years. This is often because managers aren’t trained to be great communicators. But the importance of the frontline manager on operations, business success, and employee engagement can’t be overstated. In this guide we’ll share some manager communication training tips to ensure your managers aren’t the weak link in the comms chain.
What is Manager Communication?
Manager communication is all the communication that takes place between a manager and their direct reports.
Because a manager works most closely with their teams, this is one of the primary ways that most employees receive information about the company and training. As such, managers are responsible for 70% of the variance in employee engagement.
Why is Communication Important as a Manager?
Because managers have such a strong impact on an employee’s experience at work, their ability to communicate effectively is critical.
And when people managers aren’t trained on employee communication, there is a greater risk that they might:
- Miscommunicate important information
- Not train their teams effectively
- Fail to communicate what matters
This can lead to low team morale, lower performance, and higher churn.
How Should a Manager Communicate With Employees?
So, how should managers communicate with their teams? The key to success here is to continuously train your managers and reinforce strong communication skills. Not everyone knows how to be an effective communicator and leader, so make sure you provide that training to your mid-level managers.
Train your managers on a few key areas:
- Striking the right tone. Managers should acknowledge challenges and difficulties without brushing it under the rug, but also avoid toxic language and negativity.
- Sharing enough information. Sometimes, managers might make decisions about what’s important to their teams. Coach them on how to share the right level of detail to help their teams thrive.
- Organization. Frontline managers are often incredibly busy, so it can be difficult to take the time for one-on-one conversations, performance reviews, etc. Sharing tips to make sufficient time will help them succeed and give employees more structure.
What Our Manager Communication Training Guide Includes:
Despite their importance, we often don’t train managers or give them the right tools to succeed. This guide will help you create strategies that improve manager comms.
- The main challenges companies face with frontline manager comms
- 4 key areas of focus that will make the most impact:
- Shift meetings
- Employee performance reviews
- How to use top-down messaging the right way
- How to make communication more timely
- Case studies of our clients who have achieved success with manager comms
